There are people who see things in very funny ways. Here's an example that popped up last week when the bad dog jokes popped up. Perhaps there was a google humour day in the searching and retrieval algorithm.
It makes me wonder about first names and surnames. We think of surnames as coming about in England. They were adopted between the 11th and 16th centuries. The aristocracy started the consistent use of surnames. The Domesday Book in 1086 is the marker for the introduction of family names. That was so they could tax everyone, and know that everyone had been taxed.
But much earlier, the Romans had personal and family naming conventions - both a personal name and regular surname. Well, quite complicated, with the tradition evolving over centuries. But it broke down following the collapse of imperial authority in the west.
Today, we engage in names as a social convention and personality statement. Websites have recommendations for turning surnames into first names. A great example is Beyoncé: "The singer's full name is Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter. Her mother, Tina Knowles, chose the name because of her own French maiden name, Beyince." I put that in quotes, because I wonder if her mother had spelling issues.
Johnny Depp? This is more traditional: Depp is a surname of South German origin, from a nickname for a 'maladroit' person, or according other sources a comedian. Ellen Page's surname is traditional - status name for a young servant, Middle English and Old French.
And 50 cent? This is the personality statement name: Curtis James Jackson III adopted the nickname "50 Cent" as a metaphor for change. The name was inspired by Kelvin Martin, a 1980s Brooklyn robber known as "50 Cent"; Jackson chose it "because it says everything I want it to say. I'm the same kind of person 50 Cent was."
It is a Cumbers and Toltec day - these are from our visit to Colorado in 2017.
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